Varela, a parolee from Glendora, was shot after he fired at a police officer while using a checkout stand as cover, Drucker said.

The sequence of events began about an hour earlier, when the Kohl’s store at 1225 S. Lone Hill Ave. was robbed. An hour later, a Glendora police officer tried to detain a man he believed to be the suspect, and the man pulled out a handgun and ran into the Ralphs store. The officer followed, and the suspect fired his handgun at the officer, who returned fire.

“The Ralphs was crowded,” said sheriff’s Lt. John Corina, speaking at the scene of the shooting. “It was full of people shopping at the time, and the suspect was firing from behind the checkstands at the officer as he entered the store.”